


From the Waves

by peeka_boo



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternative Universe - Mermaid, Human!Russia, M/M, Mermaid!China, Rochu, at first Mute!China, later Human!China
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 01:13:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11025483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peeka_boo/pseuds/peeka_boo
Summary: Ivan rescues a mermaid from a fishing net and takes care of his injuries before setting him free.





	From the Waves

Ivan looked far out into the sea. The wind whistled through his icy blond locks and the cawing of seagulls rang in the restless air. Taking a deep breath, inhaling the salty ocean breeze, Ivan closed his eyes and allowed his other senses to take over.

A storm was approaching soon, the clouds were crossing the expanse of blue sky and with the wind tousling his hair, Ivan sighed. It was good to be back home. He had been studying abroad, and it was a missed comfort to be back in his home town in Russia. Especially because he hadn’t thought he’d miss the ocean coast as much as he did. He never thought he’d miss it so much, everything, even the incessant crowing of the gulls. 

A splash sounded top his left and Ivan opened his violet eyes. It was hard to distinguish such a sound from the crash of ocean waves against the shore, but this sounded different, an almost definite ‘thunk’ out of tune with the rhythmic crash of the waves. It echoed a panicked urgency.

 

Ivan checked to see if it was one of the docked boats that had somehow maybe loosened from the dock, it wasn’t. He headed towards the sound, following it as best as he could. The splashing was more frequent now, resembling that of an animal in distress. It was probably a seagull or other water faring bird who got stuck in a fishing net cast astray, maybe even a large fish or some other marine life. Whatever was causing the disturbance, Ivan intended to help.

As he neared where he supposed was the source of the splashing, he noticed the creature was bigger than a bird or a fish, the amount of water spraying into the air was also much too big to be caused by an animal. Fearing it was a person, Ivan rushed towards the source of the splashing water behind the outcropping of a giant bolder. Ripples pulsed against the flow of the waves and the water sprayed against the direction of the sea. A high pitched clicking could be heard, squeals and sounds of distress traveled through the air as Ivan ran faster.

Upon rounding the corner, he took a double take. What he saw was most defiantly not a fish or a bird, the creature wasn’t even completely human. What greeted his sight, trapped and wrapped tightly in a fishing net, was a mermaid.  
Ivan stared for a few moments, locking eyes multiple times with the beautiful being as it struggled in the waves. He felt as if he was frozen in place. His violet eyes connected with amber orbs, they were stunning in the dimming light of an approaching storm. The mermaid broke eye contact, looking away before struggling again, Ivan was knocked out of his daze.

Wading carefully into the swirling sea, careful of the undertow, Ivan moved closer, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. He whistled gently, mimicking the sounds of which the mermaid was making before, holding his hands out to show he meant no harm. Once the creature stopped thrashing in its binds, Ivan started whispering reassuring words, getting close enough to grab onto the fishing net trapping the mermaid. The mermaid instinctively shied away from Ivan’s touch, digging the wiry material of the net further into shimmering dewy skin.

“It’s all right,” Ivan soothed, working his fingers into the tangles in the net, “I’m helping you, you don’t need to be afraid.” He moved slowly as to not startle the creature, reaching into his pocket, he grabbed the pocketknife that he always carried with him, a gift from his deceased grandfather whom gave it to him as a child. The mermaid let out a dying wail at the glinting metal held in Ivan’s hand. 

Ivan felt raindrops start to fall, heard them splashing into the ocean and hit the rocky sand of the beach. He had to move quickly.

He worked the pocketknife into the tangles of the net, slicing through the resistant material and loosening its hold on the mermaid. 

“It’s going to be all right,” he said, more to himself than the mermaid, “It’s going to be all right.” 

The sea was unpredictable during a storm and Ivan knew better than to attempt staying out during one. The wind was picking up, whipping his hair against his face as saltwater stung his eyes. He quickly cut through the knotted parts of the net and sighed in relief as it started to slack around the mermaid, whom had long gone quiet.

He heaved the mermaid over his shoulder and struggled against the water to get back to shore, the receding tide tugging at his legs. He sighed in relief as they both collapsed on the beach, each panting heavily. Ivan looked over to the mermaid, taking off his soaked coat, he wrapped it around the mermaid. He carried the mermaid bridal style as he trekked home quickly as a heavy rainstorm hit the coast, drenching everything. The wind tossed his wet hair across his face and the saltwater stung his eyes, but Ivan was determined to get home.

Upon arriving at his flat, Ivan unceremoniously slipped on the wooden floor and just managed to heave to mermaid out of the way so he didn’t land on him. He grunted in pain and heard the mermaid groan as well.

‘That makes two of us.” He thought, sighing as he rubbed the sore spot on his arm that he had used to break his fall.

Ivan stood up again and half carried, half dragged the mermaid to the bathroom, his previous strength dissipating. He gently set the mermaid down in the bathtub and started filling it with water. As he waited for the tub to fill, Ivan laid down on the tiled floor, not having the strength to do anything else.

“I really hope I don’t need to haul in buckets of salt water in order for you to breath,” he mumbled to no one in particular, staring at the ceiling.

After resting for a while as the tub filled up, Ivan looked around his bathroom to find the medical kit he had stashed in a while ago. Ivan kneeled next to the still filling bath and decided to dress the mermaid’s wounds, or merman. By the mermaid – merman’s biology, Ivan assumed he was a male. 

He majority of his wounds were rope burns and cuts of varying depths. Ivan reached a hand out tentatively to show he meant no harm and the merman allowed him to grab his arm and haul him onto the side of the tub. He went to disinfecting the cuts, the merman screeched and scratched Ivan’s arm at the initial sting of the rubbing alcohol. Ivan dabbed ointments on the burns before wrapping the wounds with medical gauze. Ivan guessed bandages weren’t going to stick very long in the water. He worked his way down the mermaid’s body, also admiring the tanned almost flawless skin before reaching for his tail. 

The merman’s tail was a brilliant orange-gold, trails of red and streams of yellow flowed through the shimmering scales. It faded gently into the merman’s slightly scaly skin at the hip. The flawless scales were disturbed by the ugly rope burns and cuts that ran down the mermaid’s body in a hash tagged pattern. The tail had suffered the most damage on their entire body. Angry red marks lined the scaly skin and blood leaked steadily from the severe cuts from the lines of the fishing net. The crimson liquid blurred in the water before dissipating, coloring the water a slight shade more red. Because the skin was quite different, Ivan chose to just wrap the gauze tightly around the golden-orange skin, staunching the bleeding as he dabbed ointment on the burns. He closed the tap in the tub and decided to drain the dirtied water that had rinsed and cleaned off most of the blood and grime from the merman when Ivan initially placed him in there.

“So, how long can you go without water?” Ivan asked, “Can you survive in freshwater as well as saltwater?”

He looked into large amber eyes that stared blankly back. The mermaid blinked before rubbing a clawed hand on his forearm, he looked up and nodded, which Ivan took to mean that as long as their skin was moist, they would be alright. He certainly wasn’t having troubles breathing out of the water at least. The two of them listened to the water run down the drain in silence. As the last of the water drained away into the pipes, Ivan stopped the drain with a plug and opened the tap again and the merman slipped into the bathtub, running his webbed hands through the clear water happily, though their movements were a bit stiff, probably from the gauze wrapped tightly around the various spots on his body. He gave a chirp resembling a giggle before settling on the bottom of the tub, letting the water submerge him as he breathed out some bubbles and closed his eyes.

Ivan sighed before deciding to sit back and catch a little sleep himself. Making sure he remembered to turn the tap off so the bathroom didn’t flood.

Ivan consistently replenished the water in the bathtub, even one time adding a generous amount of sea salt just to see if something would happen. He read somewhere that sea water would help wounds to heal faster, so he decided to do that for a few days.

Ivan changed the gauze on the merman at regular intervals and dabbed on more ointment on the burns as they started to heal and scab over. The cuts showed no sign of infection and Ivan heaved a sigh of relief. ‘You probably couldn’t take a mermaid to the hospital to treat infected wounds without there being strings attached’ he thought, chuckling a bit to himself.

By now the wounds had healed considerably and Ivan had stopped replacing the gauze on the scabbed flesh with new ones, he left the old ones on. He was healing well.

Ivan decided to keep supervising him until his injuries fully went away. And after moving a wooden stool to the bathroom so he didn’t have to kneel or squat on the tile floor all the time, Ivan had to admit it was quite enjoyable. He would even go as far to say the mermaid enjoyed his company as well.

Over the days Ivan had tried to convince the mermaid to eat but every single time he made a gesture for ‘eating’ the merman laughed and shook his head, usually sinking back into the water with a chuckle.

Ivan had tried over and over again but the response was the same. One time when the merman got really annoyed he splashed held the water in the bath at him, drenching Ivan completely. He took that finally as a solid no and spent the rest of the afternoon mopping up the spilled water and refilling the bath. All while the merman watched with a smug expression, wrapped tail gently flipping in the rising water.

Ivan leaned back in the wooden chair he had moved to the bathroom to replace the small stool. The merman was turning languid circles in the tub, a constant splashing sound echoed in the room.

“Do you want me to read to you?” Ivan asked, gesturing to the book he had brought in with him, “Can you understand me?”

The merman gave him a confused look before turning away, he sank to the bottom of the tub and breathed out a stream of bubbles, Ivan interpreted it as a sigh.

They still couldn’t really understand each other. It seemed they didn’t speak the same language.

“So, no reading?” Ivan asked again, swirling a hand in the water to get the merman’s attention. When he raised his head out of the water, Ivan repeated his question.

“Do you want me,” he paused to point at himself, “to read,” he mimicked reading the pages, “to you,” he pointed at him. The merman tilted his head in thought, a minute went by with the only movement in the room being his swishing tail in the water. The merman eventually raised a webbed hand and jabbed the center of the book’s cover. Ivan stared at him long enough for him to repeat the action again, this time jabbing the book a little harder. Ivan snapped out of his daze and opened the book, “I guess that’s a yes then, da?” He said uncertainly, coughing a bit to clear out his throat before beginning.

“Once upon a time, there was…”

***

He read the entire book to him, fairytale after fairytale, and once that had ended, upon his persistent jabbing at the book, Ivan went and got another to read. Hours must of jone by of Ivan reading to the mermaid in the solitude of his bathroom, towers of books had begun to sccumulate on the tiled floor and Ivan found he was running out of books to read.

“After this one we will eat, da?” He asked the mermaid, motioning scooping food into his mouth. He gave a hard jab at the book, a pout on his slim angular face. The jab left a dent on the hardback marine life textbook and Ivan chuckled.

“Impatient, da,” he sighed, clearing his throat again before resuming to read.

“Journey into the Sea, a beginner’s guide to marine life…”

***

Another hour had passed before Ivan had stopped, his voice had become a bit hoarse from all the reading and he found he needed to clear his throat more often. He set down the last book he read, a collection of poems his sister had brought him last winter.

“We are going to eat now, da? Aren’t you hungry?” Ivan motioned eating again, followed by pointing at his midsection, the merman gave a hesitant nod this time. Ivan had expected another wave of water to splash onto him but this was certainly an improvement. Merman probably didn’t eat as often as people, he had concluded.

“That’s good!” Ivan exclaimed, “We can kind of understand each other now.” The merman mimicked his smile, though a bit awkwardly and Ivan giggled at the display.

“I’m going to go to the kitchen to get some food super quickly, I don’t really know what you would normally eat so I’ll just bring back an assortment of things, da?”

Despite not knowing what was exactly being said, he gave a nod in agreement.

Ivan eventually came back to the kitchen with an armful of different foods, from raw fish to fresh fruit, balancing the items on the edge of the bathtub, Ivan displayed them in front of the curious mermaid and allowed him to pick.

He picked up a raw fish by the tail, after wrinkling his nose, he sucked the entire fish in his mouth with a wet slurp and, with a sickening crunch, he began to chew. Ivan tried not to gag as he heard the bones snap and break along with a little bit of bloody fluid dripping out the side of the merman’s mouth. Ivan sighed internally and let out a breath as the merman swallowed. He flashed Ivan a toothy grin and emitted a series of quick clicking noises which Ivan took to mean he was laughing.

After calming down, he picked at the fruit Ivan had brought in and decided upon an apple. He ate it slowly, poking at it with a claw and turning it slowly in his hand. He even ate the seeds and core after, picking at the other fruits Ivan had laid down on the side of the bath.

As the merman ate, Ivan watched curiously.

He shot Ivan a puzzled look and Ivan realized he had been staring at him and looked away quickly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

He decided to eat as well and picked something off the rim of the bathtub, an apple, and ate with the merman. They stayed in silence until the merman had finished just about everything Ivan had brought in and decided to splash him while he was staring off into space, drenching him completely. He laughed as Ivan sputtered and waved his arms wildly in the air, wet from head to toe and sitting in a steadily growing puddle on the floor.

A couple days had passed and Ivan decided to check on the merman’s wounds again. The skin beneath had healed all up with no complications besides light scaring. He decided to get rid of the bandages at last and let go of the slippery smooth skin.

He watched as he rubbed his skin, stretching to shake off the restricting feel of the bandages he had gotten used to feeling.

He smiled at Ivan, sharp teeth and all, and he felt obligated to return it, albeit awkwardly and with no doubt a little blush.

“It’s been almost a week and I think you’re ready to go back to the ocean now, da?” Ivan asked the mermaid, he had wrapped a wet towel around the merman’s body and was preparing to lift him out of the tub.

“Besides, this bathtub is way too small for you anyways.” He grunted as he lifted the merman into his arms, letting the excess water trickle back into the porcelain tub.

As the water slowed down to a steady dribble Ivan started towards the door, doing his best to answer to the curious clicks the merman was emitting in his arms. Ivan just narrated what he was planning to do, explaining that he was going to take him home.

“We’re going back to the ocean.”

Ivan had always been thankful to live close to the coast but none more than now. He carried the merman to the beach, breathing deeply from exertion, he ungracefully plopped the mermaid in the tide. It wasn’t too deep but it covered the merman enough so Ivan could remove the towel, tossing it in the direction of the beach.

He looked to see the merman swimming gracefully in the waters, twisting and turning in tune with the waves, he laughed and bent down closer to watch.

The merman surfaced from the water and his brown hair cascaded down his slender shoulders. His brown eyes were still as wide as ever, Ivan could see his own reflection within the amber hickory orbs that were as vast as the sea.

Ivan smiled sadly at the merman, thinking that this was probably the last time he would see him, he felt to smile slowly slip from his face.

“You… look better…. with smile… a smile, aru.”

Ivan felt his jaw drop as the merman spoke, mouth working tiredly around the unfamiliar tones.

“Smile, aru.”

The mermaid lifted his two hands to grasp Ivan’s cheeks, clawed fingertips digging into his face, pulling his cheeks up in a makeshift grin.

“You look better with a smile, aru.” He repeated, this time his words flowed more fluently. He let his hands drop away.

“You can speak in our language?” Ivan asked, astonished.

The merman maintained his haughty expression, “We are fast learners, aru.” He said smugly.

“My name is Yao, aru.”

Ivan continued staring, his mouth opening and closing but no sound passed through his lips.

“Hello Yao?” He finally asks uncertainly.

“Hello Ivan, aru.” Yao answered with a smile.

“So, are you going to leave now?” Ivan asked , starting to remember how to talk again and returning to the matter at hand.

“I guess,” Yao replied, examining one of his webbed hands, “but I do think I’ll come back to visit, aru, you’re strange and I like it.”

Ivan grinned at the answer, he reached forwards and took of strand of brown hair in his hand, he braided it as Yao watched his face intently, curiously.

When Ivan finished he tied it off gently with an elastic he happened to find in a coat pocket. Yao stroked the braid with a thoughtful expression, a small smile playing across his lips as he fingered Ivan’s workmanship.

“My family, they’re waiting for me, aru.” He said quietly, looking up into Ivan’s eyes. “I want to leave now, aru, they’ll worry.”

Ivan was struck by the straightforwardness of it all, the bluntness of Yao’s words.

“I-I guess you can go,” he said reluctantly, not letting the brown orbs drift attention away from him, holding Yao’s eyes in an apparent staring contest.

“Don’t worry Ivan, I’ll come back, aru.” Yao reassured before smirking, “I know you’ll miss me a lot so I’ll swim back as quickly as possible.”

Ivan floundered for words.

Yao laughed.

Yao took alabaster hands within his own webbed ones, claws once again digging slightly into the pale skin.

“I’ll be back soon, aru, just wait and see, Ivan.”

And with that, Yao let go of Ivan’s hands and dove under the waves.

Ivan watched as he swam away, bright golden orange tail fading into the blue green waters.

***

Weeks had passed and Ivan had long given up hope for Yao’s return.

He sighed as he drained the last of the vodka from the bottle he held in his hands.

Without the mermaid, he was quite lonely and the quietness of his house was something to get used to again. He hadn’t visited the shores since the second week Yao had been gone.

Decided he had nothing better to do today, Ivan tightened the coat around him, the one he had wrapped around Yao when they had first met, and breathed in the salty smell that lingered on the fabric even after the many times he had washed it. He headed outside towards the sea.

The sky was grey and cloudy, much like the first time they met, the air was humid, and Ivan could smell rain.

Arriving at the sandy beaches he settled himself on the familiar dock where he had released Yao and dangled his legs over the edge, waiting patiently.

A couple minutes passed, then a few more, half an hour made its mark and Ivan was confident Yao wouldn’t come today either, just like all the others. Maybe Yao had come on one of the days when Ivan had decided not to leave his house, and decided to abandon him as well. 

Ivan felt tears leak from his eyes and scrubbed them away with a gloved hand, a whimper unintentionally escaping through his lips.

He had fallen in love with Yao.

He had fallen in love with a mermaid, the one he had saved.

Ivan openly sobbed as the storm drew closer. A drop of water hit his cheek, salty, but not from his eyes. The storm wasn’t upon him yet so that couldn’t be the answer either. He felt hope light in his heart and looked over the edge of the dock hesitantly, doubting that it was he wanted it to be.

He was greeted by a small wave smashing into his face, the salt water stinging his puffy eyes as he gagged on the water, coughing so none of it went into his lungs.

He heard an ever so familiar chirping sound and looked over the edge again. There in the water, laughing gleefully, was Yao.

Ivan scrambled onto his hands and resisted the urge to dive into the waters. He reached a hand down to the creature who had stolen his heart and Yao reached up to cover the distance, grabbing onto Ivan’s hand with his own.

“Can I heave you up here?” Ivan asked and Yao nodded in reply. 

Ivan tubbed Yao up onto the dock, panting as he exerted himself. His breath caught in his throat.

“Y-YOU HAVE LEGS!” He shouted, looking down to where Yao’s tail was supposed to be, then blushing fiercely when he realized the other was naked.

“H-Here, take my coat and cover yourself up,” Ivan scrambled to cover Yao’s naked body with his large coat, the fabric hanging loosely around his small lithe body.

Yao laughed, “Nudeness is not acceptable in human culture, I’ll keep that in mind, aru.”

“How did this happen?” Ivan asked, gesturing to his new body, “I mean, it’s wonderful, I’m just curious about what you had to do to – “Yao cut him off, “You’re starting to talk in circles, aru. I merely asked a sea witch to exchange my tail for legs.” He said simply, “Though I’m still able to change back if I submerge myself in water, so it’s nothing too permanent.”

Ivan sighed in relief, “Good, I would hate for you not to be able to return to your home.”

“Ah yes, to my family, aru. Our exchange is the reason why I was away for so long, I did come back last week and waited but you never came around, so I decided to try again at a later date, aru.”

“The same witch told me you were going to be here today, aru, so that helped.”

Ivan crushed him in a hug and Yao grunted, “I can’t breathe, aru.” He managed to squeeze out through Ivan’s embrace. 

Ivan let him go and Yao saw the tears running down his face. He wiped them away gently, “Don’t worry aru, I don’t plan to leave anytime soon.” He whispered. 

Ivan leaned down and captured his lips in a kiss. 

Yao leaned into it, winding his hands into soft ashy blond hair.

After a while the two pulled away and Ivan smiled.

“I love you, Yao.” He said softly, bringing him into another embrace, though this time he took care to be gentler. He kept a firm hold on Yao who rested against his chest but never squeezed him hard enough to cause discomfort. He held Yao as if he might disappear again.

Yao sighed, his body pressed against Ivan’s. He could feel the steady thump of Ivan’s heart through his chest and mentally counted the beats, smiling. He felt a hand card through his loose brown locks that were still a little damp from the water, the braid he had made before was still there, intact though a little mussed up.

He felt complete.

They both did.

As thunder clapped far away, Yao looked up to connect his eyes with Ivan’s watery violet ones. He stood up on his toes to press a gentle kiss on Ivan’s lips. 

“I love you too, Ivan, aru.”

And the rain began to fall but neither of them showed any sign of letting go anytime soon.

End.


End file.
